agelast

[ aj-uh-last ]

noun

, Literary.

1. a person who never laughs; a humorless person (often used attributively):

   His sharpest critical barbs were reserved for the arid abstractions of the agelasts, the humorless and pedantic scholars.

Other Words From

• ag·e·las·tic [aj-, uh, -, las, -tik], adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of agelast¹

First recorded in 1875–80; from Middle French agelasate, from agélastos “not laughing,” from a- a- ⁶( def ) + gelastós “laughable” (from geláein, gelân “to laugh”)